The government will not take on any fresh borrowing to fund its upcoming New Economy Programme zero loans commitment, relying instead on domestic revenue generation and fiscal savings, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has confirmed.
Speaking during a town hall engagement at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Forson explained that the state will allocate 1.5 percent of GDP annually between 2027 and 2030 to drive the transformation agenda without expanding national debt.
How the $13 Billion Funding Works
Forson broke down the funding model, explaining that the capital—expected to top $13 billion over four years—will come from two internal sources.
First, 0.5 percent of GDP will be drawn directly from annual tax collections. Second, the government will lower its targeted primary fiscal surplus from 1.5 percent to 0.5 percent of GDP, freeing up an additional 1.0 percent of GDP each year for productive investments.
Dismissing reports that GoldBod revenues fund state coffers, Forson clarified that public spending relies strictly on direct taxes, indirect taxes, and non-tax revenues collected by the state.
Debt Targets Remain Intact
The Finance Minister reassured the academic community that reallocating fiscal savings will not undermine long-term debt sustainability targets, including bringing total public debt down to 45 percent of GDP by 2028.
Highlighting recent fiscal gains, Forson noted that Ghana posted a primary surplus of 2.5 percent of GDP in 2025 and is on track for a 1.5 percent primary surplus in 2026, delivering a combined debt reduction worth 4 percent of GDP.
By slowing the annual pace of debt reduction to 0.5 percent of GDP starting in 2027, the ministry creates the exact financial room required to fund industrial expansion while keeping total debt on a downward path.
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